Lowe had also accepted the lead in a remake of the miniseries Salem's Lot. "It's the scariest thing that has ever been on TV," he says of the Stephen King vampire story, which airs in June on TNT.
When Lowe returned to California from the Salem's Lot shoot in Australia, he went straight to work on The Lyon's Den. Not long after, he found himself back in the headlines: Active in Democratic Party causes, he got a call from Arnold Schwarzenegger's office asking him to support his Republican friend's campaign for California governor. Lowe didn't hesitate. "I just admire him so much and what he's accomplished with his life," says Lowe, heading back to the set.
A minute later, Lowe, in character makes an impassioned speech before actors playing a jury. The case: a wrongful death suit against parentsof a boy who shot a 15-year-old neighbor. Lowe pulls an empty chair into the middle of the courtroom and poignantly decribes what would have been the girl's life. When he finishes, there is a hush on the set.
For Lowe, it is the kind of acting triumph he feels he had been denied on The West Wing. And at this moment, it is clear that after years of starts and stops, Rob Lowe is where he wantes to be: back on top and in control. "You can't imagine what it feels like," he says. "It's a miracle."